The Internet of Things is actually a pretty simple concept, it means taking all the things in the world and connecting them to the internet.

I Know it may confuse most of the people right now ?

Lets Simplify …

Lets take a simple example of fan, light at your home. To switch it on you should get to the switch next to it (tightly coupled with each other)… What if you could access them from your mobile maybe you could switch it on from anywhere around the world or it could automatically switch off and on when people stay in the room.

Yes, it is possible with the Internet of things!!!

that was just a basic idea,

Let’s say your armband can detect if there is a possibility of you getting a mild stroke or heart attack. It could automatically send the analyzed heartbeat data to the hospital nearby so that they can send you an ambulance on time. Get your operation theatre and all equipment’s required before you reach the hospital.

The concept of Internet of things was found in 1999 by Kevin Ashton

But how actually is this done?

The mantra behind Internet of things !!!!

THINGS + SENSE & COMMUNICATE

We as human beings, we interact and collaborate with other people using sense (hearing, touch, smell, tastes, view) If the same could have been achieved by things,

Yes, it is possible using sensors. Luckily we have already got a bunch of it.You will not believe how many sensors your phone has. It can sense, hear, always has an eye on you – smarter than you.

There are 4 steps in IOT – simplified

Sensors/Actuators

Device

Gateway

Cloud

1.Sensors/Actuators

Sensors play a vital role. The main purpose of the sensor is to communicate with the surrounding environment.Sensors can hear what you speak, able to find the temperature of a room, humidity, etc.

Sensors are basically used to log I/O to the Devices. There are a number of sensors where each has there own way of communicating.

There are a various kinds of sensors for a long time but the invention of the Internet of Things has taken the evolution of sensors to a completely different level.

2.Devices

Devices are the heart piece of Internet of things.

Device collects the output or data from the sensors and convert them into values and pass them to the cloud using the Gateways.

The sensor which is being used should be connected to the devices by any means such as wires or signals.

The most commonly used Devices are Arduino, raspberry pi, mxchips and a lot more.

3.Gateway & protocols

The primary purpose of a gateway is to provide a bridge between different types of communication.

The best example would be the router or modem we have in our home, where it allows us to connect your home to the internet.The same concept is used in IOT Gateway where it connects your devices through internet or intranet to the cloud

Data moving to the cloud or vice versa goes through the gateway.

4.Cloud

Finally, the data from the sensors has reached your database or cloud.

The data is then processed and is made useful by the end-user(which can be simplified into a User interface)

For example, a text alert to your phone when the temperature is too high at home. It is up to you to decide about the UI.

Conclusion

Basically, the entire concept of IoT comes to a point where it can be used effectively and gain control over things or the environment.

The process can be reversed to send instructions to the devices… If we could use them in a standard way we could find earthquakes and tsunami before it could hit the shores and lots more…